Myanmar, today, is enmeshed in an humanitarian crisis of staggering proportions – the Rohingya Crisis as it’s commonly known. The nature of events has seen Bangladesh now hosting upwards of a million human beings who have moved north across the Naf River border between the two countries seeking refuge and personal security. The international reaction has largely focussed on reports of brutality and maltreatment of the people in Myanmar, but there has been very little public examination of the context of the situation and the way forward. It is Chris Lamb’s hope that public discussion will now centre around possible ways forward and relate those ways to the interests of the Myanmar Government, the Rakhine populations and the region.

Chris Lamb was an Australian diplomat for 30 years who – on retirement – became the chief diplomat for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies in Geneva. Today, he is President of the Australia Myanmar Institute and a Special Adviser to the Australian Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.